


My other half returned to me

by blueiben



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Archetty, Archie/Betty, F/M, Fluff, Minor Mentions of Violence, Minor Swearing, One Shot, Riverdale, barchie, betty/archie, minor mentions of veronica and jughead, some romantic allusions but nothing too drastic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-09-01 12:55:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16765576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueiben/pseuds/blueiben
Summary: “Betty,” Archie said with a weary voice, “I’ve known you since before kindergarten. You’re exhausted, I know you are.”They stare at each other for a few seconds, and their faces mirror each other as they burst into an almost manic, sleep-deprived laughter.





	My other half returned to me

**Author's Note:**

> A minor thing in which I imagine what happened after Jughead left the bunker.

Betty sighed against the wall, huddled up in a blanket. Her eyelids were heavy and her body ached with exhaustion after she and the others had broken Arch out of juvie and brought him here. Like the others, Betty’s adrenaline high came to an end and left her drowsy, and while the others went home to go sweet sleep in warm and soft beds, she volunteered to take the first shift with Jug. Then, when seeing how terrible he looked, she sent him home too, so at least one of them could catch a break.

Besides, she couldn’t stand being home with her mom, Polly and the Farm. Maybe it was a good thing, just for tonight, that Alice was preoccupied so that Betty could say that she slept over at Veronica’s without being called every ten minutes. Alice just responded to her text with an ‘Ok! Don’t stay up too late and have fun’, which was an unusually normal response. Betty let it go for tonight and shoved it out of her mind.

So there she sat, a little cold and very tired, but determined to stay awake and watch over Arch. The bunker they had hidden away in did have a sealed entrance she had locked up once Jughead left, but still – it was an underground bunker, and the walls and the floor of stone and cement didn’t have much warmth in it. A temporary solution was to light candles that provided some light and heat, but they didn’t help much.

Betty shivered, and pulled the blanket tighter around her. She glanced at Archie lying opposite from where she sat, in a grey t-shirt with the duvet pulled up to his navel. Despite the chilly bunker, he was warm, and she made a mental note to herself to check for a fever in the morning. He had frown, twitching fingers and jerked his head back and forth, undoubtedly having a nightmare.

Betty's skin crawled, thinking about what juvie had been like. That absurd fight club he was forced to be a part of and that horrible, awful burn he had been branded with on his hip. A _brand_ , as if Archie was cattle that needed to be marked. She became nauseous at the thought, and shut out all images of Archie under a burning cattle prod. Whoever had done it, was going straight to hell and she was glad for that.

Archie groaned softly yet loud enough to make made Betty jerk. She jumped up and quickly sat down next to him.

“Arch?”

His eyelids fluttered, revealing a pair of soft and sleepy brown eyes. “…Betty?” His voice was raspy and quiet, barely audible.

Betty, now alert and awake, nodded and put on a bright smile for him. “Hi, Arch,” she whispered.

Archie frowned again, looking around in the bunker. “Where are the others? What time is it?” He began sitting up, a movement Betty quickly stopped by shoving him firmly back down again.

“You need rest,” she said strictly. “It’s about one in the morning. The others went home a while ago. Veronica too. Me and Jug were going to take the first shift, but I sent him home because he looked like he was about to collapse.”

“First shift? What are you – my babysitter?” he asked with a sleepy smile. “Either way, I appreciate it.” He closed his eyes again and blindly patted her knee.

She grinned, and tried to not look at the bruised knuckles on his hand. “Well, someone got to look after you and make sure you don’t get yourself in any trouble again. I swear to God, Arch, you have a gift.”

“Clearly I should be a professional troublemaker instead of musician or football player.”

“Clearly. Go back to sleep now.”

“What about you? Aren’t you going to sleep?” He opened his eyes again and looked at her, more alert than before and glancing at her dark circles and drained face. 

And there it was. Archie Andrews, always putting others before himself, even after he had been through what Betty would qualify as hell. He was selfless and compassionate to his core. Naïve, a little dumb at times, but _good_.

Betty hated it because Archie forgot to take care of himself and he would give and give and give everything he had until there was nothing left to ensure the happiness of others. She loved it for he was a light to everyone he met and his compassion made her want to be better. She fell in love with him because of his goodness. She kissed him because of it.

“I’m not tired,” she managed to say with a flash of a smile. A poorly concealed lie.

“Betty,” Archie said with a weary voice, “I’ve known you since before kindergarten. You’re exhausted, I know you are.”

They stare at each other for a few seconds, and their faces mirror each other as they burst into an almost manic, sleep-deprived laughter.

“You’re right, you’re right,” Betty managed to say between giggles. “God, I don’t even know why I try to lie to you, Arch.”

He laughed too, a thrilling, warm sound of joy she hadn’t heard in ages. Their giggles echoed in the small bunker, mixing together as they had done since childhood.

“Hey, remember that time you tried to throw me that surprise birthday party and I could tell you were hiding something before you even opened your mouth? I had to pretend I didn’t know anything when I came home and it was so bad.” Tears were running down Betty’s cheeks while Archie nodded, laughing so hard he had to put a hand on his side.

They were thirteen, and Archie had the task of luring Betty home instead over to Pop’s after school. When he came up to talk to her, she had narrowed her eyes and cocked an eyebrow, making Archie crumble like a house of cards. No, they had never been able to lie to each other. They knew each other too well.

After a minute, the laughter slowly faded and Betty dried her cheeks. Archie sat up, no trace of sleep left in his demeanor.

“Oh my God.” Betty smiled at their stupidity. It had been a long, long time since she had laughed like that.

Archie ran a hand through his hair. He looked so much older and wearier than the last time she had seen him. His brown eyes weren’t so bright as they used to be and he looked grimmer somehow, as if juvie and Hiram Lodge had latched themselves onto him and chipped away at his being, eating away everything he was.

Maybe she looked older too. She felt older. They hadn’t been normal teens, worrying about school and gossip and partying and drinking shakes at Pop’s in what felt like years. Yet, here they were, laughing like nothing mattered. It was a long time she had laughed like that, and it was only Archie that could lure it out of her.

“Well, even if I want to sleep, there’s not a lot of options here,” Betty gestured to the one-room bunker. It it was only the feeble table and four chairs, about ready to fall apart if anyone were a tad too rough, and candles placed along the floor. On the walls were newspaper articles and information regarding Gryphons and Gargoyles, as well as a map over Fox Forest. 

Arch looked around in disbelief and shook his head slightly. “I still can’t believe Dilton Doyle had a bunker. I mean, you think you know someone, and this is Riverdale. We practically grew up in these woods; we ran around here all the time during summer, playing hide-and-seek and looking for tadpoles in the river and we never knew about this place.”

“True,” Betty nodded, “but is it really surprising when Dilton used to bring a compass, a map and a first aid kit to school? He used to read a book called ‘Ultimate Survivor’s Guide’ in English and was allowed because the teacher gave up on trying to get him to pay attention.”

“Oh, yeah, I remember that! He had like 5 volumes or something, and the entire series just described different types of knots and 10 ways to use your pocketknife.”

They giggled again, and just like that, the past months was washed away and Betty’s shoulders felt a little lighter.

A comfortable silence wrapped itself around them for a few minutes. Betty thought about what was going to come next and screw over their lives. What was going to happen tomorrow? There was surely nothing but troubles awaiting them. For a few seconds, Betty wanted to lock the bunker door and throw away the key so that the two of them could stay in there, shielded from the chaos their lives had become.

Archie shifted his position and leans forward on his knees, putting his chin to his chest and looking down. “Betty?”

“Hm?”

“Why didn’t you visit me?” His voice was quiet and clear, yet the words made Betty freeze. She had hoped and almost prayed he wouldn’t ask her that, but she understood it would come eventually and then she had hoped he wouldn’t ask her that until months had passed.

Betty bit her lip. She stood up and went to retrieve the blanket she had left behind earlier and she sat down again, this time to the left of the mattress Archie sat on, leaning against the wall with her feet stretched out in front of her.

Betty took a shaky breath. “I should’ve visited you, Arch, and I’m sorry I didn’t.”

Archie turned to her, staying quiet, patiently waiting for her explanation. His face didn’t show signs of anger or frustration, just concern.

“I need you to understand that when you were taken away in that courtroom, after you declared yourself guilty, I –“

Betty clenched her fists beneath the stupid blanket she had wrapped around her shoulders and she looked down, unable to bear the warm eyes staring back at her.

“I couldn’t _breathe_. It was like everything imploded and I just felt nothing, as if this void just opened up and swallowed everything, leaving me numb and cold and it broke me, Arch, seeing you taken away like that.”

She sniffled and pulled her knees up to her chin. Tears began falling down her cheeks for the second time.

“You’re like my other half, Arch,” she sobbed. “I have Jug and V and I love them but I’ve had a life without them but you… I’ve never been without you. I don’t know how to and seeing you taken away like that just broke me. I didn’t know what to do.”

Archie’s face had softened but he still remained silent, waiting calmly until Betty was done talking, which she appreciated. If she was interrupted, she wouldn’t be able to finish. It all come tumbling out of her like a river.

“V asked me to come with her and visit you, many times, but I just couldn’t. I - I wouldn’t be able to handle to see you imprisoned by a crime you didn’t commit and it would be too difficult and painful to leave you behind – I couldn’t even bear the thought of it, to leave you in that – that _hole_.”

She took a moment to collect herself and wipe her nose on her sleeve before continuing, “I wanted to work on your case and maybe find some leads or something, but it was way out of my league. A mystery neglected by sloppy cops is one thing, a legal case is something else entirely. I felt so powerless and weak because my best friend was locked up and I couldn’t do anything - there was nothing I could do, nothing at all! And I couldn’t go visit you, look you in your eyes and leave again, knowing I couldn’t lift a finger to get you out of there, so I just ended up avoiding it altogether, and that was a coward’s way out.”

She looked back up at him.

“And it won’t ever justify it, ever, but because I was so powerless and confused over what to do, I ended up fixating on Gryphons and Gargoyles - something tangible, something I had the _ability_ to work on. It’s solvable, and I threw myself into it to take my mind off of everything about you and your case, because it was something I was able to control, to untangle and piece together and I stuck with it until V told us about her idea to break you out. But I still should have visited you. Sent you letters or something. I was selfish, Arch. I was selfish and thought about myself when you were in pain because I didn’t know how to make it better.”

“You’re not selfish, Betty,” Archie said quietly. “You’re not powerless or weak.”

Betty shook her head no as she started to cry again. She wanted to scream that she was all of the above and more, but the calm affirmation of Archie’s words felt like a warm wave that flushed over her. His uncanny ability to make her feel better was an anchor she clung to, and had always done.

He crawled to her side and sat next to her, putting one arm around her shoulder. She rested her head on him, wiping away tears.

“I’m sorry I didn’t visit you, Arch.”

“It’s okay, Betty. I know you had a lot to deal with.”

“That’s not an excuse.”

He pressed a kiss to her hair. “Make it up to me by going to sleep, yeah? We’re exhausted, both of us.”

“Archie…”

“No, seriously. We’ll share,” he nodded to the mattress. The clean sheets Veronica had brought actually managed to make it seem more appealing. 

“Like the sleepovers we used to have,” he grinned, and Betty couldn’t stop herself from smiling back. It was incredible how much lighter Archie made her feel, even when she hated herself.

Unable to find a reason to why not, she agreed. They were both drained, and if he rested if she slept, she’d happily sleep for a hundred years.

“I have to blow out the candles,” she groaned. “You lie down,” she ordered to Archie, who held his hands up in an innocent I-didn’t-do-anything-gesture.

Betty got up and began blowing out the candles Veronica and Jug had lit earlier, making the bunker go darker and darker. When she blew out the last candle, the bunker had turned pitch-black.

“Wait, I can’t see,” she said, holding her hands out in front of her to feel her way around.

Archie chortled in response, somewhere in the corner to her right. “Why didn’t you use it to find your way back and then blow it out?”

“I don’t know, Arch. My brain isn’t working,” she pouted, and stubbed her toe on one of the chairs. “Ow!” A string of colourful curse words escaped her mouth.

“Are you OK?” Sounds of ruffling of the duvet and bare feet on the floor told her Archie had stood up, presumably looking for her.

“I’m fine, I just stubbed my toe.”

“Follow my voice.”

“I’m trying. Talk about something.”

“Uh, OK.”

“We probably look like idiots right now.”

Archie chuckled, before he said, “This is going to sound weird, but I miss school.” He was somewhere in front of her and to the right. “I miss classes, football practice, worrying about math tests, sitting in the cafeteria and writing songs - I feel like I haven’t touched a guitar in ages. And I miss my sheet paper. And I miss my dad and Vegas.”

Betty felt an ache inside her; Archie and Mr. Andrews were close, and she knew the two of them meant the world to each other. She wasn’t far away from him now.

“I miss going to Pop’s with you guys, sitting down at a booth and eating a burger and drinking a strawberry milkshake – wait, I felt something!”

Betty felt warm skin grace her fingertips, and when she moved towards it, a hand grasped her own.

“I found you,” she giggled.

“What are you talking about, _I_ found _you_ ,” Archie retorted. Even in the darkness she could see his teasing grin.

Archie held her hand firmly yet gently as he turned and took a step back to the corner where the mattress was, and he didn’t let go until they had both lied down.

“Here,” Archie said. “Ronnie brought me an extra pillow.”

He promptly proceeded to smack her in the face with it as he handed it to her blindly.

“Ow.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“I'll take a rain check on the pillow fight. Of course V brought an extra pillow,” Betty sighed and fluffed it. She put it down and lied down, feeling Archie do the same next to her. The mattress, despite its flaws, felt like a cloud. The only problem was the size of it. 

“No offense to the person who owns this thing but this is not suited for two people,” Betty sighed.

“Nope.”

Archie had pullet the duvet up to their shoulders, and Betty could already feel body heat radiating off of him. Archie being like a heater was another thing she appreciated about him, since she somehow always managed to be cold and have icy hands, even during summertime.

“Betty?” 

“Yeah?" 

“Are you awake?”

“Arch…”

“Kidding. But seriously, I just wanted to say that I’m really glad you were the first person I saw when I crawled out of that tunnel.”

“You want to know something?”

“What?”

“Me too.”

Silence wrapped around them again, and despite her earlier sleepiness, Betty was now fully awake and she wanted nothing more than to light a nightlight and talk to Archie about everything until sunrise, hidden under the covers like they did when they were kids and weren’t allowed.

Archie turned to his side, away from Betty. To any other person it would be like a rejection or a signal that stated; ‘leave me alone’ or ‘I’m tired now’. To Betty it was an invitation to wriggle closer and use him as a heating pad, which she happily welcomed.

Her forehead touched the nape of his neck (when did he grow so tall?) and she put her left arm over and around him. He took her left hand in his own and held in against his chest, close enough for her to feel his heartbeat.

“One of these days you’ll have to admit out loud you like being the little spoon.”

“Never." 

“Archie?”

“Mm?” 

“I really, really, fucking missed you.”

“I really, really fucking missed you too.” 

He squeezed her hand. She squeezed back.

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah. This was written so satisfy my own Archie/Betty cravings. I just wondered how they would be around each other after everything that happened, and to answer the question as to why Betty never visited Archie in juvie. 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


End file.
